Catholic Bishops Meet Over Clergy Sexual Scandals

Pope Francis prays during the opening of a global child protection summit for reflections on the sex abuse crisis within the Catholic Church, on February 21, 2019 at the Vatican. - Pope Francis has set aside three and a half days to convince Catholic bishops to tackle paedophilia in a bid to contain a scandal which hit an already beleaguered Church again in 2018, from Chile to Germany and the United States. (Photo by Vincenzo PINTO / POOL / AFP) (Photo credit should read VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images)

An extraordinary summit is underway in Rome to find lasting solutions to alleged Catholic Church’s clergy sexual abuses. Pope Francis has told the nearly 200 Catholic leaders gathered in Vatican City, he had summoned them, “In the face of this scourge of sexual abuse perpetrated by men of the church to the detriment of minors”.

Acknowledging the importance of the situation, the Pope told the gathering, “the holy people of God are looking at us and expect from us not simple condemnation, “but concrete and effective measure to put in place.

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The Pope then said that he had made a list of 21 “reflection points” that were handed out to the assembly of church leaders. Among the points was a proposal to raise the minimum age for marriage to 16 years old. Current canon law in the Catholic Church has the minimum age as 14 for females and 16 for males.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, an organizer of the summit in Rome, said that conferences of bishops in individual countries have the power to raise the age, but that the Pope wants to make the change part of universal canon law.

21 Reflection points handed to the assembly of Church leaders at Rome

For the first time in Catholic history, the almost 200 global church leaders are gatheringat the Vatican to address the crisis. The four-day summit, convened by the Pope last September, will include two speeches by Francis, talks outlining best practices, small group discussions among bishops and a penitential ceremony involving abuse survivors.

The summit comes as the Catholic Church is confronting scandals on several fronts, from the sexual abuse of nuns by clergy to a salacious new book to be published Thursday that calls the Vatican “one of the biggest gay communities in the world” in which clergy regularly break their vows of celibacy.

On Wednesday, summit organizers met with abuse survivors from around the world, saying afterward that the meeting will help them “better understand the gravity and urgency of the difficulties” church leaders will face during the four-day summit.